The [non-existance of the] Camera is a let down to be sure, but multitasking? What do you need multitasking for? Doing some action at a specific time and doing async operations right? If the OS provides this then I don't think multitasking is needed (and it adds a huge amount of complexity/stability issues).
Multitasking doesn't need to add complexity and stability issues, if ubuntu can do it then so can apple.
It does add more power consumption.
Multitasking is useful because humans are multitasking.
For instance, a navigator that guides someone to their destination could run in parallel to lots of other applications and be very useful that way.
Single tasking computers are pretty much done for, multi tasking is the norm, not the exception. By choosing for a single tasking environment a decision has been made that is going to be relatively hard to undo. All sorts of assumptions have now become embedded in places where they probably shouldn't be, such as dealing with screen input (focus).
I can see why though, it is possibly much harder to get a user interface up and running on a multi-touch display without a mouse if you have multiple applications active.
>Multitasking doesn't need to add complexity and stability issues, if ubuntu can do it then so can apple.
That it can be done doesn't mean it isn't complex. It is.
And by "stability" I didn't mean the phone/tablet constantly crashing, I meant having inconsistent performance. Once you get into multitasking, everyone and their brother is going to have some really "good" reason they need a service. Some of these will always perform well, some wont.
>Multitasking is useful because humans are multitasking.
Humans are incredibly awful at multitasking.
>Single tasking computers are pretty much done for, multi tasking is the norm, not the exception.
Computers sure. But this is an instant-on consumer device. I think the use cases for such a device are different enough to warrant at least consideration for a different kind of OS for them.
Fair point. But I would point out that the only things this works with are things we have thoroughly mastered (e.g. walking). People have issues talking and driving (e.g. in parts of Europe it's illegal to talk on a cell while driving because of all the accidents it causes).
In my experience it depends on the amount of processing required. If I'm driving a straight away with traffic going mostly the same speed I can hold complex conversations. As soon as something happens on the road I drop the conversation until my attention isn't needed on the road anymore.
Yes, that's exactly how it works. It seems as though the lower level tasks have the ability to push themselves in to the foreground when something happens that they don't know how to handle.
It's an amazing mechanism. Animals can do it too, birds can sing 'on the wing', there are lots of other examples.
No multitasking means there's a whole pile of apps that will get written for Android but not iPad or iPhone. Personalized news aggregators, traffic alerts, proximity detectors and all kinds of things not yet envisioned. A passive "delivery" model as opposed to an active "fetch" model. Then again, when you're tied to AT&T you probably don't want a bunch of data-munching background processes anyway.
I don't think you need full multitasking for this. If the OS handles that situation (e.g. one app is allowed to access the screen, one the speaker) then that's enough and it avoids the complexity of having full threading.
No voice calls is the big one for me. I can see they were thinking if we enable voice calls people might choose for an ipad instead of an iphone, but we want to sell them both.
The same happened when they crippled the newton so it wouldn't compete with the mac.
If you loved the iPhone but hated all that annoying fits-in-your-pocket and voice-calling and typing, you're gonna be AMAZED at the bullshit we've come up with! Now open your wallets and bend over.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 46.9 ms ] threadThese two would have been nice to have. No HDMI Out No UsB Port
the other 4, No problem.
It does add more power consumption.
Multitasking is useful because humans are multitasking.
For instance, a navigator that guides someone to their destination could run in parallel to lots of other applications and be very useful that way.
Single tasking computers are pretty much done for, multi tasking is the norm, not the exception. By choosing for a single tasking environment a decision has been made that is going to be relatively hard to undo. All sorts of assumptions have now become embedded in places where they probably shouldn't be, such as dealing with screen input (focus).
I can see why though, it is possibly much harder to get a user interface up and running on a multi-touch display without a mouse if you have multiple applications active.
That it can be done doesn't mean it isn't complex. It is.
And by "stability" I didn't mean the phone/tablet constantly crashing, I meant having inconsistent performance. Once you get into multitasking, everyone and their brother is going to have some really "good" reason they need a service. Some of these will always perform well, some wont.
>Multitasking is useful because humans are multitasking.
Humans are incredibly awful at multitasking.
>Single tasking computers are pretty much done for, multi tasking is the norm, not the exception.
Computers sure. But this is an instant-on consumer device. I think the use cases for such a device are different enough to warrant at least consideration for a different kind of OS for them.
On the contrary, we excel at it by pushing things 'down' when we have mastered them.
For instance, driving and talking to a passenger, walking and thinking about something and so on.
We are so good at it that most of the time we don't even notice any more how many things we are doing at the same time.
The only time we are not multitasking is when we are really concentrating on something difficult, usually problem solving or learning a new skill.
In my experience it depends on the amount of processing required. If I'm driving a straight away with traffic going mostly the same speed I can hold complex conversations. As soon as something happens on the road I drop the conversation until my attention isn't needed on the road anymore.
It's an amazing mechanism. Animals can do it too, birds can sing 'on the wing', there are lots of other examples.
Fascinating stuff.
At the moment, on my Symbian phone, I can listen to Spotify while surfing the web. You cannot do that on an iPhone or iPad.
The same happened when they crippled the newton so it wouldn't compete with the mac.